500mW or over requires a Hamm license, you are right, I been studying !

where did you find that piece of info? What country are you in?

In the US and Canada you cannot legally use any FPV video equipment without a HAM license - whether it be 500mW, 200mW, or even 10mW. There are no license-exempt FPV transmitters on the market today (well other than the Parrot Drone). Further, there are many restrictions on which particular frequencies you can use within the legal HAM bands.

You can fly FPV without a license and hope you don't get caught, but why not take the course, learn a few useful things about RF and be legal? I did fly a dozen times prior to getting a license. Feels better having the license and the extra knowledge - though much of the pertinent details are learned on RCG.

Yes, the Wii is normally connected to those inputs; and I've even been remembering to change the source to 'Game'.

Thanks!

I'm sorry Colonel, but the fact that it worked once isn't enough to be 100% sure. In the past I've had a composite cable where one of the ground leads was disconnected. But the video worked because the audio leads were connected, so video used one of the audio-grounds.

Long story short, in case you didn't try this already:
- connect your wii video connector, but not the two audio connectors!
- confirm that it works
- now disconnect the wii and connect your camera

You can fly FPV without a license and hope you don't get caught, but why not take the course, learn a few useful things about RF and be legal? I did fly a dozen times prior to getting a license. Feels better having the license and the extra knowledge - though much of the pertinent details are learned on RCG.

Having a HAM radio license just bailed me out of serious trouble a few days ago. I was flying FPV near a prison because it had an open field (I had no idea the building was a minimum security prison). I was approached by not 1, but 3 policemen. While I wasn't doing anything illegal, had I not had my HAM license, I would have and thus might have received more than a polite request to leave.

D'oh! You didn't have season 1 of Prison Break sitting on the driver seat of your car did you? That could have been bad.

Glad to hear they just asked you to leave, but yes having the HAM license just makes sense.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IBCrazy

Having a HAM radio license just bailed me out of serious trouble a few days ago. I was flying FPV near a prison because it had an open field (I had no idea the building was a minimum security prison). I was approached by not 1, but 3 policemen. While I wasn't doing anything illegal, had I not had my HAM license, I would have and thus might have received more than a polite request to leave.

3 stupid newbie questions. First off if it requires a tech license for the use of fpv equipment why do we not need a license for our 2.4 ghz flight radios. they are transmitting and recieving from each other right/wrong?

Second I'm boarder line in need of Bi focals and can't focus on anything short 12" from my face. It just dawned on me that fpv goggles is probably not a good choice and I should go with a monitor in a geek box. any input there is appreciated

Third I'm planning on making my own clover leaf and skew-planar antenna for my 5.8ghz setup is there an advantage over going right or left on the polarization?

Second I'm boarder line in need of Bi focals and can't focus on anything short 12" from my face. It just dawned on me that fpv goggles is probably not a good choice and I should go with a monitor in a geek box. any input there is appreciated

I was BEYOND border line 20 years ago.

A buddy sent me a pair of googles to try and although I could see the screens well enough to fly, reading the OSD info was hopeless.

I went to a monitor with a "geek" box and couldn't be happier.

Also, Q3. Most of the ready made ones are RHCP. Other then that I don't think there is any difference as long as rx and tx match. IMO

Yabba

Images

3 stupid newbie questions. First off if it requires a tech license for the use of fpv equipment why do we not need a license for our 2.4 ghz flight radios. they are transmitting and recieving from each other right/wrong?

RC radios from the major mfrs are 'license exempt' and registered and tested for the FCC, just like your cell phone, wireless phone at home, GPS, etc. Video transmitters like we use are not recognized devices by the FCC - they have no status and are not license exempt. But with a HAM license, a person can transmit 'amateur' devices, home made devices and such on HAM bands only. And the restrictions are more than that, even. For most of the freqs, we are 2ndary users. We are required to ensure that our transmissions do not interfere with the primary users of the freqs. On some of the freqs, we are required to use DFS (spread spectrum) to broadcast legally, which none of our video Tx feature. That is why many, but not all, of the 5.8GHz channels are off limits to us also.

Where/how did you go about getting your canadian ham license?
I'm in bc if it makes any difference.

Thanks.

The HAM enthusiasts make it fairly easy for you. I just got the list of qualified volunteer HAM examiners from the Industry Canada website. Then I emailed one of them and he set up the exam for myself and a friend. My friend is a brilliant engineer so he just took practice exams over and over. I paid $40 for the HamTestOnline training, which is great for me as a person trained in health care, not engineering or physics. He got 96/100, I got 95, and took me about 20 minutes. Now I have a certificate on the wall, a callsign, and a pocket Ham license card also. Planning to do the Advanced exam in a few months also.